Perfect Fit(96)

“Listen to us,” Jag said as he pulled into the Candlesses driveway, “sounding all grown up and shit.”

“Aren’t we cute?” I cooed in response. Jag turned off the car and I got serious because I wanted to ask him something before we went inside to get Lucas and Lily. “I was thinking about inviting Herbert and Joann to open house at the YMCA so they can see the kids swim and tumble. I wanted to make sure you were comfortable with the idea first.”

“It’s a great idea.” He leaned forward and gave me a soft kiss.

I raised my hand to touch his face and the sunlight reflected off the band he placed on my finger the night before. Like every time I saw it, my heartrate increased as I remembered the way I felt when I dug up each piece of his puzzle and the symbols of a wedding. I kept looking into his eyes to see if it was some kind of joke, but I could see the love he had for me smoldering in his eyes. My insides quaked when I assembled the cookie pieces to form his proposal. My God, when I saw that Tiffany’s box at the bottom of the sandbox my tears started to fall. I would never again make fun of a guy for being moved to tears from the overflowing of love and joy he had inside him. Never again.

“Let’s go get our kids.” I told him.

Joann and Herbert smiled warmly when they opened the door. They were overjoyed when I extended the invitation to them and Joann went to her kitchen and wrote the open house on her calendar by the phone. “We’ll be there,” she said when she returned.

Lucas and Lily ran squealing to us when they heard our voices. They leapt into our arms and held onto our necks. They were so excited to tell us about their weekend that they talked over one another. It was obvious that spending the weekend with their maternal grandparents had been a wonderful thing for them.

“One at a time,” Herbert said, laughing.

The constant chatter kept up through their goodbyes to their grandparents and the entire ride home. Jag and I couldn’t do anything but smile at one another and ask them to talk one at a time, but they were too excited about the museum and aquarium they went to the previous day.

“We have a surprise for you,” Jag said, finally getting their attention.

“Ohhhhh,” Lily said, clapping her hands. “What is it, Uncle Jag?” She always poured on the charm for her Uncle Jag and he needn’t think I didn’t know that she had him wrapped around her little finger. If I wasn’t careful, Lily would be ruling the household and we’d end up her loyal servants.

“You’ll have to wait until we get home, Princess.”

“That’s just mean, Uncle Jag,” Lucas said, crossing his arms across his chest and trying to look angry.

“When we get home, Uncle Miller and I are cooking a Valentine’s Day dinner for our special Valentines while you guys get your rooms set up the way you want.”

“I’m only five,” Lily said. “I can’t put my bed together, Uncle Jag.” We laughed at her irate declaration.

“Your beds are all set up, but your clothes and toys need to be put away.” Jag told her.

“I guess then.” She struck a pose to match her brothers and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. I looked over at Jag and he was doing the same thing.

Once we got home, the kids were suddenly eager to get upstairs and get their rooms set up. Jag and I set about making the chicken nuggets from scratch using Liam’s recipe for crispy oven baked nuggets, rather than frozen ones. Jag cut the chicken breasts into strips and then bite size chunks while I put the breading together.

We had the nuggets baking in the oven and turned our attention to the macaroni and cheese recipe. Liam basically cooked the noodles, drained them, and added milk, butter, and fresh American cheese to the noodles and stirred until the cheese melted.

“This is a really easy dinner,” I remarked. “If you can read, you can cook,” I said mimicking Liam. “You want to take over here and I’ll start the laundry?”

“Gladly.” He hated laundry more than any chore, but he always pitched in. Often he did the folding and putting away. He liked cooking more than I did, so I thought it was a fair trade off, because I would do the dishes afterwards. We had found a balance and rhythm that worked for us.

Jag let us know when dinner was ready and we met in the dining room. I think all of us were surprised at how well it turned out. Once they were finished with dinner, we gave them their presents. Lily loved her Elsa doll and Lucas was ready to whip out his age appropriate chemistry set and start working on experiments.

“That’s not all,” I told them.

“There’s more?” Lily’s surprised looked on her face made me smile.